PlanetCatfish.com

I just like these guys so much. Jools, pls block Barbie from this thread or she will tease me.
-Shane



Female with a mouthful of eggs

Are these fish you have collected, I think they are considered a southern species?

Birger

Assuming these members of the cichlidae family are from the Republic of South Africa, then they might be quite intersting.

Is only the female mouthbreeding, or the male as well?

I have other members of this family, from Uruguay, which can survive quite cold temps - perhaps even 0 celcius.

Nice

Hi Shane!!
Well done!!
I had that species about 7-8 years ago for a few months, they are really easy to spawn, mine did after a week or so and after 2-3 months I already had multiple batch so i passed them along!!
Nice little cichlid , males like other Haplochromine tend to harass the females to the point of exhaustion if no cover is provided for them!

@Bas peel:in this genus and species it is the female that holds the eggs and make all the brooding

Cheers
Yann

Those of you familiar with the African riverine cichlids will know that they show substantial regional variation (i.e. the many morphs of Pelvicachromis taeniatus). Several morphs of P. philander have been described as full species or subspecies. The latest work (Lamboj, 2004) lists three subspp in South Africa but gives no information on identifying the subspp. Some of the northern Pseudocreilabrus spp show up in the trade, usually under a name like "Egyptian mouthbrooder."
I collected a population from about an hour north of Pretoria last year and spawned them but they were a very plainly-colored morph even when spawning.
The above specimens came from a pond store in Johannesburg. Some fry had come in with water lilies and the cichlids had grown and spawned until they filled one of the stores holding ponds for plants. A nice guy at the store caught some for Catfishluva and I so we could see them. When I saw how attractive they were and expressed interest the store offered to give me all I wanted. I brought home 6 and put one trio in my pond and the other in a 45 gallon tank stocked with South African barbs. As we are in the middle of high summer, they are spawning like crazy.

Is only the female mouthbreeding, or the male as well?

Only the female. The male digs out a bowl-shaped depression, attracts the female and they spawn. The female picks up the fertilized eggs and is ignored by the make thereafter.

males like other Haplochromine tend to harass the females to the point of exhaustion if no cover is provided for them!

Yes they can. The set up is a 45 gallon (1.3 meter) with lots of driftwood and Anubias. Tankmates are about 8 Barbus bifrenatus, 2 B. paludinosus, and 2 B. viviparus. This seems to be a good combination. I'll post a shot of the tank when I take a good pic.

*files this one away for future use*

I knew you would

-Shane

Hi Shane, South Africa?

Where next

Siberia?

Te estan esperando los muchachos de la negra con los potes de leche por alla en Ocumare... LOL

You translate it for the rest...

Have a merry one...

Ed